Soaking pit

ABSTRACT

A soaking pit has a sand seal for the cover of its opening which extends around the top of the walls of the pit. The bottom of the sand seal trough is lower at the cover approach end than at the opposite end and the trough slopes upwardly along each side from the approach end. A peripheral flange on the cover extends into the sand in the trough with the bottom of the flange being spaced the same distance from the bottom of the trough around its periphery. Improved means for moving the cover between operative and inoperative positions includes a drum mounted on a fixed frame. The drum rotates about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of the cover. A first sheave is mounted on the stationary frame substantially parallel to the drum on the side thereof toward the pit opening, a wire rope passes around the first sheave with one end secured to the drum and the other end secured to the cover. A second sheave is mounted on the frame substantially parallel to the drum on the side thereof away from the pit opening. A second rope passes around the second sheave with one end attached to the drum and the other end attached to the cover. The drum is rotated by a reversible motor to move the cover.

United States Patent Motz et al.

[54] SOAKING PIT [72] Inventors: Fred J. Motz, McKeesport; Stephen Shufran, North Versailles, both of Pa.

[51] Int. Cl. ..F23m 7/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..l l0/l73, 173 A, 177

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,123,029 3/1964 Morton ..l10/173 2,091,224 8/1937 Brinckerhoff et al ..1 10/173 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 698,904 10/1953 Great Britain ..1 10/173 Primary Examiner-Kenneth W. Sprague Attorney-Martin J. Carroll [451 June6,1972

[ ABSIRACT A soaking pit has a sand seal for the cover of its opening which extends around the top of the walls of the pit. The bottom of the sand seal trough is lower at the cover approach end than at the opposite end and the trough slopes upwardly along each side from the approach end. A peripheral flange on the cover extends into the sand in the trough with the bottom of the flange being spaced the same distance from the bottom of the trough around its periphery. Improved means for moving the cover between operative and inoperative positions includes a drum mounted on a fixed frame. The drum rotates about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of the cover. A first sheave is mounted on the stationary frame substantially parallel to the drum onthe side thereof toward the pit opening, a wire rope passes around the first sheave with one end secured to the drum and the other end secured to the cover. A second sheave is mounted on the frame substantially parallel to the drum on the side thereof away from the pit opening. A second rope passes around the second sheave with one end attached to the drum and the other end attached to the cover. The drum is rotated by a reversible motor to move the cover.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUN 6 I972 3 667, 409

SHEET 1 OF FRED J. MOTZ and STEPHEN SHUFRA/V Ar rorney PATENTEDJUH 6 I972 SHEET 2 OF 2 I/VVENTORS FRED J. MOTZ and STEPHEN SHUFRA/V A I fornev SOAKING PIT This invention relates to a soaking pit and more particularly to a sand seal and drive mechanism for the pit cover. Soaking pits for heating steel ingots have a top charging opening with a cover for closing this opening, the cover being moved between operative position over the opening to an inoperative position remote from the opening. The moving means used for this purpose prior to our invention is relatively complex, bulky, and difficult to maintain. The sand seal commonly used consists of a flat upper surface on the pit wall and cooperating flat surfaces on the cover. Sand is shoveled by the workmen on top of the pit wall against the cover. This is unsatisfactory because of the care required to obtain a good seal and the labor required to place the sand in position and also to remove the sand.

It is, therefore, an object of our invention to provide a drive for moving a soaking pit cover which is simple in construction, compact, and requires little maintenance.

Another object is to providean improved sand seal for the cover. I

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus of our invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line IIll of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken on the line III-III of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an elevation, with parts broken away and shown in section, of a second embodiment of our invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates the heating chamber of a soaking pit having refractory walls 4. A peripheral sand seal trough 6 is provided in the top of the refractory wall 4. It will be seen that the bottom of the trough adjacent the cover approach end is at a lower elevation than the bottom of the groove at the opposite end with the groove along the sides tapering upwardly from the approach end to the other end. The top of the chamber 2 is closed by means of a cover 8 which has a peripheral cast iron flange 10 adapted to be received in sand S in the sand seal groove. The cover 8 is provided with a refractory lining 12 in the usual manner. A pair of spaced apart brackets 14 are secured to the leading end of cover 8 and support an axle 16 having a wheel 18 at each end. Similar brackets 20 are provided at the other end of the cover 8 for receiving an axle-22 having a wheel 24 at each end. The wheels 18 have a larger diameter than the wheels 24 so that the flanges 10 at each side of the cover taper downwardly from the free or right end of the cover 8 as shown in the drawings. The wheels 18 and 24 ride on spaced apart tracks 26 which have depressions 28 and 30 therein spaced apart a distance equal to the distance between the axes of the wheels 18 and 24. A central bracket 32 extends upwardly from the cover 8 at the approach end thereof and supports a boom 34 which extends away from the chamber 2. A boom 36 is fixed in position above the boom 34 on a supporting frame 37 and has a sheave 38 mounted on the end adjacent the chamber 2 for movement about a horizontal axis. A similar sheave 40 is mounted for movement about a horizontal axis on the outboard side of sheave 38. A drum 42 is mounted above and between the sheaves 38 and 40 on frame 37 for movement about a horizontal axis. The axes of sheaves 38 and 40 and drum 42 are parallel to one another. The drum 42 is driven by means of a motor 44 through a gear reducer 46. A wire rope 48 has one end attached to and is partially wound about the drum 42. The rope 48 passes around sheave 38 with its other end secured to the boom 34 by means of a slack take-up device 49. A second rope 50 is partially wound about and secured to drum 42 and passes from the drum 42 around sheave 40 with its other end being attached to the boom 34. It will be noted that the ropes 48 and 50 are out of alignment so that they will not interfere with one another.

In operation, to close the cover 8 the motor 44 is operated to rotate the drum 42 in a counter clockwise direction. This causes the rope 48 to wind on the drum 42 and the rope 50 to unwind from the drum 42 so as to move the cover 8 along the tracks 26 to a closed position. The inclined flange 10 moves into the sloping sand seal embedding itself into the sand.

Movement of the cover 8 is stopped when the wheels 18 and 24 reach depressions 28 and 30, respectively. This causes the flange 10 to drop further into the sand seal, thus providing for a better seal. To remove the cover 8 the motor 44 is operated in the reverse direction to rotate drum 42 in a clockwise direction, thus causing rope 48 to unwind and rope 50 to wind on the drum 42. This causes the cover 8 to move toward the left along the tracks 26 to the open position. Heated ingots then can be removed from the chamber 2 and additional ingots charged after which the cover is moved to the right as set forth above with the operations being repeated.

FIG. 4 shows a slight modification of my invention in which wheels 18 and 24 are of the same diameter with the cover 8 being modified so that its flange 10' will be arranged as in the same manner as flanges 10 of the first embodiment. The construction and operation is otherwise the same as in the first embodiment. 7

While it is preferred to provide the sand sea] as described the sand seal trough may be omitted and the cover operating mechanism used with covers having flanges with a flat horizontal surface. In this case, a seal is provided by shoveling sand against the outside of the flanges as has been commonly done. This, however, does not provide as good a seal and also requires additional labor.

While two embodiments of our invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a furnace including a heating chamber formed by generally vertical walls with a top charging opening at the top thereof, a cover for said charging opening, and means for moving said cover between an operative position over said opening and an inoperative position at one end thereof; the improvement comprising a peripheral trough around the top of said vertical walls, the bottom of said trough at the end adjacent said inoperative position being lower than the bottom of the trough at its other end, the bottom of the trough at each side of said charging opening slanting upwardly from the end adjacent said inoperative position to the other end, solid sealing material in said trough, and a peripheral flange on said cover extending into said sealing material, the bottom of said flange in operative position being spaced substantially the same distance above the bottom of said trough around its periphery; and said moving means including a fixed supporting frame adjacent said charging opening at the end adjacent the low end of said trough, a drum mounted on said frame for rotation about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of said cover, means for rotating said drum, a first sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof toward said charging opening, a first flexible member passing around said first sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover, a second sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof away from said charging opening, and a second flexible member passing around said second sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover.

2. The combination of claim 1 including a boom secured to said cover and extending below and outboard of said first sheave when said cover is in operative position, means attaching said first flexible member to the outboard end of said boom, and means attaching said second flexible member to the inboard end of said boom.

3. The combination of claim 2 including generally horizontal parallel tracks one on each side of said charging opening, a pair of wheels at the forward end of said cover, a pair of wheels at the rearward end of said cover, a pair of depressions in each track spaced apart substantially the same distance as the forward and rearward wheels, said depressions being located to receive said wheels when said cover is in operative position.

4. In a furnace including a heating chamber formed by generally vertical walls with a top charging opening at the top thereof, a cover for said charging opening, and means for moving said cover between an operative position over said opening and an inoperative position at one end thereof; said moving means including a fixed supporting frame adjacent said charging opening at one end thereof, a drum mounted on said frame for rotation about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of said cover, means for rotating said drum, a first sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof toward said charging opening, a first flexible member passing around said first sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover, a second sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof away from said charging opening, and a second flexible member passing around said second sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover.

5. The combination of claim 4 including a boom secured to said cover and extending below and outboard of said first sheave when said cover is in operative position, means attaching said first flexible member to the outboard end of said boom, and means attaching said second flexible member to the inboard end of said boom. 

1. In a furnace including a heating chamber formed by generally vertical walls with a top charging opening at the top thereof, a cover for said charging opening, and means for moving said cover between an operative position over said opening and an inoperative position at one end thereof; the improvement comprising a peripheral trougH around the top of said vertical walls, the bottom of said trough at the end adjacent said inoperative position being lower than the bottom of the trough at its other end, the bottom of the trough at each side of said charging opening slanting upwardly from the end adjacent said inoperative position to the other end, solid sealing material in said trough, and a peripheral flange on said cover extending into said sealing material, the bottom of said flange in operative position being spaced substantially the same distance above the bottom of said trough around its periphery; and said moving means including a fixed supporting frame adjacent said charging opening at the end adjacent the low end of said trough, a drum mounted on said frame for rotation about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of said cover, means for rotating said drum, a first sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof toward said charging opening, a first flexible member passing around said first sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover, a second sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof away from said charging opening, and a second flexible member passing around said second sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover.
 2. The combination of claim 1 including a boom secured to said cover and extending below and outboard of said first sheave when said cover is in operative position, means attaching said first flexible member to the outboard end of said boom, and means attaching said second flexible member to the inboard end of said boom.
 3. The combination of claim 2 including generally horizontal parallel tracks one on each side of said charging opening, a pair of wheels at the forward end of said cover, a pair of wheels at the rearward end of said cover, a pair of depressions in each track spaced apart substantially the same distance as the forward and rearward wheels, said depressions being located to receive said wheels when said cover is in operative position.
 4. In a furnace including a heating chamber formed by generally vertical walls with a top charging opening at the top thereof, a cover for said charging opening, and means for moving said cover between an operative position over said opening and an inoperative position at one end thereof; said moving means including a fixed supporting frame adjacent said charging opening at one end thereof, a drum mounted on said frame for rotation about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of said cover, means for rotating said drum, a first sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof toward said charging opening, a first flexible member passing around said first sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover, a second sheave mounted on said frame substantially parallel to said drum on the side thereof away from said charging opening, and a second flexible member passing around said second sheave with one end attached to said drum and the other end attached to said cover.
 5. The combination of claim 4 including a boom secured to said cover and extending below and outboard of said first sheave when said cover is in operative position, means attaching said first flexible member to the outboard end of said boom, and means attaching said second flexible member to the inboard end of said boom. 